Sports Science Festival

The 87th National Sports Festival which began on October 17 is the window for sports science.

The “Taegeuk Warriors” participating in the 15th Asian Games Doha 2006 are working on improving their records with help from sports scientists at the Korea Institute of Sports Science. The National Sports Festival is a stage for trying out what they have done so far.

“Female Hercules” Jang Mi-ran (23, Wonju City Hall), who recently achieved her second consecutive win at the World Weightlifting Championships, is changing her form, following the directions of Mun Young-jin, Ph.D. who specializes in sports dynamics. It was discovered that her right foot tended to be placed slightly behind her left foot in the squatting motion during the “snatch,” breaking up her force and possibly causing potential injuries due to her unbalanced form. Dr. Mun used electromyographs and video analysis to discover this problem and has trained Jang to place both feet next to each other. This correction is crucial not only for the Asian Games but also for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. The Sports Festival is the midway check-point.

Park Tae-hwan, (17, Kyunggi High School), “The Hope of Korean Swimming”, who won the 400-meter and 1,500 meter freestyle at the 2006 Pan-Pacific Swimming Championship, is participating in the 100-meter and 200-meter free style and looking to increase his speed. Following the directions of Song Hong-sun, Ph.D. (sports physiology), Park is practicing the “clean and snatch” motion of weightlifting to train the effective use of force and thus increase his power when he turns by kicking the wall. Much interest is being shown regarding the results of this training. Also, Coach Byun Kyung-soo of the shooting team has introduced training based on sports psychology with Kim Byung-hyun, Ph.D. and developed a program for shooting based on instinct.

yjongk@donga.com